Molecular approaches to extinct species, populations, phenotypes and genomes - From the ‘Southern End of the World’
Just as species have a birth and a death, so too do other levels in the biological hierarchy of life. I will discuss our studies from the Allan Wilson Centre and show how some of these extinction events can be reversed. Because the moa of New Zealand represent a recently extinct group of rather extraordinary animals, they present a wonderful opportunity to study both species birth and death processes. With the extinction of all moa species came the extinction of many unique phenotypes. For example, unlike the endangered kiwi of New Zealand that has very small wings, moa had none at all. I will describe progress in the recovery of some candidate genes likely to underlie this extraordinary morphology and outline possible future strategies for the recovery of the entire wing development pathway. At another level, in the Antarctic we study extinct populations of Adélie penguins that disappeared thousands of years ago. As a result of genetics approaches to the study of these ancient populations, we now better understand the causes of their extinction. The role that mega icebergs have played in this process will be discussed. Finally, we have assembled complete ancient mitochondrial genomes from Adélie penguins and this work is aimed at an improved understanding of rates of DNA change. Another iconic New Zealand species, the tuatara will also feature here.